The Philippine military will conduct its own probe into allegations that certain Army officials are protecting the Abu Sayyaf as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo once more vowed to crush the extremist group and rescue its remaining hostages in southern Basilan province.

Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan, said in a television interview they would consider evidence by Catholic priest Cirilo Nacorda, a former Abu Sayyaf hostage who narrowly escaped being abducted for the second time when the group raided Basilan's Lamitan town last June 2.

Earlier, Nacorda had accused several ranking Army officials, including former 1st Infantry Division commander Brig. Gen. Romeo Dominguez, of conniving with the Abu Sayyaf when the group was able to escape from a military security cordon in Lamitan.

Nacorda accused Dominguez and four other key Army commanders in Basilan of receiving money from the Abu Sayyaf to allow them to escape.

During their retreat from Lamitan, the Abu Sayyaf took with them more hostages in addition to the 20 they abducted last May 27 from a resort in western Palawan island.

Five of the Palawan hostages, however, were also able to escape in Lamitan. The guerrillas had recently beheaded nine of their hostages apart from American Guillermo Sobero, one of the Palawan hostages whom they claim to have decapitated last June 12.

Two other U.S. citizens, Martin and Gracie Burnham, are still with the Abu Sayyaf. Apart from Dominguez, Nacorda identified former 103rd Army Brigade commander Col. Jovenal Narcise, Capt. Hubert Acierto, Capt. Nicolas Quemado, and Maj. Eliseo Campued of the 18th Infantry Battalion as involved in the payoff.

Both Dominguez and Narcise have been reassigned to new posts following the Lamitan debacle. Dominguez had denied Nacorda's claim saying the priest had been hallucinating too much because of his ordeal with the Abu Sayyaf. He threatened to file a libel suit against him.

Arroyo yesterday said the Philippine authorities would soon rescue all the Abu Sayyaf hostages and put an end to the 'atrocities' committed by the group once and for all. The statement was the fourth time Arroyo had vowed to crush the extremist group since May, when the hostage situation started.

"It's only a matter of time before we finally rescue the rest of the hostages and rout this barbaric horde and put it behind us," the President said in a roundtable interview with Malaysian journalists before she left Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for Davao City, in the southern Philippines.

The President repeated that she had ruled out negotiations for ransom.

She said she had ordered the Philippine military and the police to post a contingent on every island, especially in Mindanao, to protect tourists and locals from the bandit group. "This may be a police contingent, a military contingent or we may accredit the security agencies of the local resorts. Let's say, accredit them as territorial forces of the Armed Forces (of the Philippines)," the President said.

What was important, the President said, was to stop giving in to the Abu Sayyaf's ransom demands. "Face the issue once and for all. Bite the bullet once and for all. And then put it behind us rather than pay ransom and then have a sort of Damocles sword the next time, next season, next year," she said.

The President at the end of her three-day state visit thanked Malaysian leaders for supporting her decision "not to pay ransom but rather to bite the bullet once and for all."

"The Philippines and Malaysia are truly partners for peace and development," she said.

At the same time, Arroyo ordered the release of P1 billion ($18.8 million) to the Department of National Defence for the training of 10,000 who will be deployed to help restore law and order in Basilan.

The Cabinet Oversight Committee earlier decided to raise more Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) militiamen, in Basilan to prevent further kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf.